Japan’s Lower House on February 14 passed the FY2012 supplementary budget bill, which the Abe Cabinet drew up as measures for economic recovery, by a majority of the ruling Liberal Democratic-Komei bloc and the “opposition” Japan Restoration Party. The Japanese Communist Party and four other opposition parties, including the Democratic Party of Japan, voted against the bill.

JCP Lower House member Kasai Akira pointed out in his speech that the draft budget omits any measures to increase the incomes of ordinary people and to secure stable jobs for workers. “Although the prime minister calls the bill an ‘emergency economic package’, it is nothing other than conventional measures that support large corporations and revive large-scale public works spending by issuing additional national bonds,” he said.

The lawmaker stressed the need to boost the incomes of workers in order to put the economy on a track to recovery. He demanded that the government direct big businesses to stop cutting jobs and wages, as well as to use their enormous internal reserves to improve people’s livelihoods.

The representative also mentioned that an all-time high level of military expenses is appropriated in the budget. “The expansion of military expenditure will cause an increase in regional tensions and run counter to the efforts to secure peace in East Asia,” he stated.